What You Don't Know
by purple.bookworm.girl
Summary: Ziva is kidnapped during one of her morning runs. The whole team throws themselves into finding her, but Tony can no longer explain away his feelings. Neither can Ziva, left to her own thoughts all day. Pre-Aliyah, Tiva, McAbby.
1. Chapter 1

**_A/N: My first NCIS story! I've become incredibly obsessed in a relatively short time, and Ziva is my favorite character. So I decided to do a Ziva/Tony story, with some McGee/Abby thrown in for awesomeness._**

**_Disclaimer: If I owned it, would I be writing this?_**

Ziva David swung her long hair into a ponytail and tugged an orange beanie onto her head. Kicking her front door shut with her foot and not bothering to lock it, she jogged down the steps and sped up as she hit the flat sidewalk. Running was her daily exercise, but it offered her time to think about things other than work. Or work, as was often the case, as her best friends were also her teammates at NCIS. Mulling over cases was also a common occurrence. Today she was thinking over Abby and McGee, how everyone could see how much they meant to each other except the two of them.

As Ziva neared the place where she had once seen Lt. Roy Sanders every day, her thoughts turned to him and the little time they'd actually spent getting to know each other. Her eyes tearing up, she reached up and fingered the orange beanie on her head. She sniffled quietly and rubbed her eyes, forcing the tears back.

"Sign of weakness," she mumbled to herself, smiling at one of the many Gibbs-isms.

After her run, as she mounted the steps to her house, she noticed something seemed a bit off. She couldn't place it at all, and against her better judgment, stepped inside the house. Suddenly a cloth bag was being pulled over her head. Ziva's Mossad instincts immediately went to work, but there seemed to be more people there than she could take out. Before she could even react to the sense that someone was behind her, she had been clunked over the head with something heavy and blackness was coming fast. She tried to think of a way to get out of this, but her brain fogged up and shut off as her eyes closed and unconsciousness overtook her.

* * *

Tony DiNozzo leaned back in his chair, grinning over at his colleague's empty chair. "I can't believe she's this late. I'd get my head bashed to the other side of the bullpen for this!" McGee didn't answer, and Tony immediately knew why – a sharp pain in the back of his head told him that.

"Shut it, DiNozzo," Gibbs said, sipping from his coffee as he sat down at his desk. As Gibbs opened his mouth to tell the two younger agents what to do, someone burst from the elevator, yelling, "Gibbs, Gibbs!" The older man turned slowly, not appreciating the interruption.

"An NCIS agent is missing!" the woman gasped as she skidded to a stop in front of Gibbs. He waited for her to continue, and when she didn't, he prompted her in an annoyed voice.

"Do you know who it is?" She nodded. He groaned. "Tell us!"

She quavered visibly, obviously scared by Gibbs' gruff manner. "Z-ziva David," she squeaked.

Gibbs' eye went wide, and he grumbled, "Get your gear," to McGee and Tony, who were already nearly ready.

"McGee, go tell Abby and Ducky what's going on. Then meet us outside. DiNozzo, come with me." They hustled off, leaving the messenger stunned and ready for some coffee of her own.

* * *

Ziva awoke suddenly, popping her eyes open to a dark and dusty room. As her eyes adjusted, she took stock of her situation. They had tied her to a heavy wooden chair in what seemed to be a basement somewhere, as the only window was high up near the ceiling. There was no cover on that window, and from the sunlight streaming in, she could tell it must be later in the morning, if not already afternoon, because she had no idea which direction she was facing. The sunlight illuminated the dust in the air, and her nose itched from just how much there was. At the moment she was the only one in the room, and she couldn't see a door, which meant it must be directly behind her. As she rolled her neck to stretch, she could feel a large bump on the back of her head. She groaned as the throbbing pain took over her thoughts.

Mumbling to herself in Hebrew, hoping her captors wouldn't understand, Ziva prayed that she would get out of this alive, that her team (for she thought of them that way always) would survive when they inevitably came looking for her, that Tony – especially Tony – would keep his head even as his impulsiveness could be her saving grace. She couldn't live if Tony died. She would go back to Israel, back to Mossad, and tell her father something stupid to get herself sent on a suicide mission.

_Why am I thinking these things?_ she thought, imagining everything Tony had done to annoy her, to bother her. _It's just Tony._

* * *

Tony drummed his fingers on his knee as the three remaining members of the team, plus Abby, drove to Ziva's house. He couldn't think of it as a crime scene. It just wouldn't click in his head.

He was out of the car almost immediately as it stopped. Sprinting up the steps that his Ziva (_why did that suddenly pop into my head?_ he asked himself. She had never been 'his' Ziva) had jogged down only five hours earlier, he pushed open the front door. He stopped dead in his tracks as the read stains on the floor reached his eyes.

Tony DiNozzo had never been afraid or sickened by blood before. But he felt both as he looked at the blood that he knew must be Ziva's on the floor. Turning around, he stepped out of Ziva's house and sat down on the porch floor, putting his head in his hands.

"What is going to happen now?" he asked himself.

**_A/N2: Like it, hate it? Bad ending, too short, too long? Please review and give feedback! Constructive criticism welcome, but please no flames._**


	2. Chapter 2

_**A/N: Second chapter, coming at ya! I'm very hyper right now, probably because I did amazing in a drill down in band yesterday. It's marching band season, which is why I get most of my writing done on the weekends. Anyways, I hope you like this!**_

**_Disclaimer: Nichts ist meines. (Nothing is mine.)_**

Ziva was bored. It was the only word to describe the way she felt. Her captors hadn't been down to see her since she'd woken up, and being tied to the chair was not the most fun she'd ever had. Suddenly she heard the door squeak as it was pushed open the footsteps of two men entered the room. As they came into her field of vision, Ziva noticed they were both walking around the edges of the room, so as to avoid her, yet staring at her intently. She also realized neither was Israeli or Arabic – odd for the people she worked with alone.

One of them spoke after a few moments, a surprised note escaping his carefully built façade. "You are not Kate Todd," he said, anger etching itself in his face. "They were told to bring me Kate Todd, the woman who works for Jethro Gibbs at NCIS. Who are you? And what have you done with Agent Todd?"

Ziva resisted the urge to tell him just who she was and what had happened to Kate, which also involved having to stop the involuntary rush of tears that always came when she thought of Ari.

"How do you know I am not Kate Todd?" she said, banking that this man had never seen a picture of either Kate or herself, as he had taken a minute to decide that she must not be Kate.

His face slipped for a second, showing that she had guessed right. Regaining his composure, he glared at Ziva, who now had to get used to being called Kate.

"I am sorry, Miss Todd. I did not expect an Arabic woman to have such an American name," he told her. Ziva groaned inwardly at being referred to as Arabic, but she kept the emotion away from her face once again.

"I was born in Jerusalem to an Israeli woman and an American man. My mother wanted me to have an American name because she wanted to move to America, so she called me Kaitlin," she told him, lying through her teeth, hoping they wouldn't have background on the woman she usually tried to avoid talking about. That seemed like a serious oversight now, as knowing some of Kate's personality traits might have helped in this particular endeavor.

McGee came out of the house and sat down in a porch chair near Tony. He was holding the camera that had become Ziva's, finally realizing how much of an impact she had made on their little family. Abby came out too, tears welling in her eyes as she passed the blood in the entryway. None of them said anything, just sitting in silence was enough commiserating for the moment.

Gibbs walked out just after Abby and said quietly, "Let's go back." The three stood up and gathered their equipment, walking to the car like robots.

Back in her lab, Abby started working furiously on the few things they'd found for her in Ziva's tiny house. These men seemed as if they'd tried to clean up, but hadn't done a very good job – there was hair that obviously wasn't Ziva's, noticeable signs of a struggle, and the aforementioned blood left in the entryway.

And a note.

A note that read, _"NCIS – your agent is in our custody now. For crimes she committed against us in the past, we will tell you what we want for her safe return."_ Right now, Abby was dusting it for prints.

Upstairs in the bullpen, McGee was digging through Ziva's laptop, hoping they'd find something that would give them a hint as to who had kidnapped their Ziva. He was having some trouble with a few of the files and emails, as they were in Hebrew, but many others were in English or had been translated already – probably something Ziva had found out for the team and wanted the English copy as well as a Hebrew copy.

Tony was supposed to be cross-referencing Ziva's past cases to see if there was anyone who would be holding a grudge against her. It was barely getting done, however, as he kept stopping and staring off into space. Neither McGee nor Gibbs had said anything yet, but Tony kept trying to go back, knowing this was what would get Ziva back to him safe and sound.

Ziva couldn't believe it. Just after she'd convinced them she was Kate Todd, the NCIS agent they were looking for, they'd left. Just left. All of a sudden, as she was waiting for what they'd ask her next, they'd walked back around behind her and the door squeaked again, letting her know they had gone. She nearly broke down in tears, a very un-Ziva thing to do, but this was kind of overwhelming. Being overpowered by some men who didn't seem strong enough to take even McGee on, waking up in this tiny room, having to abruptly tell someone she was someone else, whose story she had no clue about…and Tony. He kept popping into her thoughts, the only thing that remained constant. His blue eyes, his mocking tone, his penetrating laugh. She smiled despite herself, thinking about how he corrected her English. And how he could confuse even McGee with his movie quotes. She laughed out loud as she remembered a conversation about the movie _The Sound of Music_. Her face sobered up quickly though, remembering what had happened to Gibbs just after that conversation.

A loud ringing sound filled the bullpen, startling Tony out of his reverie and McGee out of his computer work. Gibbs picked up the phone on his desk on the second ring.

"NCIS Special Agent Gibbs," he said into it. His face remained stony, but he pulled the phone away from his ear and hit the speaker button.

"We have your Special Agent Kate Todd. She has not been majorly harmed just yet, but we reserve the right to do so. We will contact you again." There was a click on the line, and then the dial tone's buzz issued from the phone once more.

All three men sat stunned for a second. Gibbs reacted first, slamming the phone back down into its cradle. McGee's face remained stunned and confused as he spoke up.

"What do they mean, they've got Kate? Kate's been dead for two years. It's Ziva now…" his voice trailed off as he realized what was going on.

"She's posing as Kate for some reason," Gibbs grumbled. "What the heck could make her think that was a good idea, I don't know, but obviously something did. DiNozzo, go over Kate's files and find out if there's someone there who might have a grudge. McGee, go see if Abby's gotten anywhere with that note." He stalked off towards the elevator, leaving behind a speechless DiNozzo and a stunned McGee.

**_A/N2: Like it, hate it? I really do like constructive criticism or just saying, "Hey, I like it!" Please review!_**


	3. Chapter 3

_**A/N: I think this chapter is actually really short...I forgot to check. And it should be longer, I haven't updated in ages! Or at least ages for this story. But I have an excuse - my computer was on the fritz (acts up?) with a virus, and my dad thought it came from . So he wouldn't let me come back on. Then I couldn't find the document. And I have school, and band, and TWO AP classes. But anyways. I'm here now.**_

**_And I saw both parts of _Kill Ari_ Monday night!! I was SO excited. And an episode where Tony and Ziva have to be a married couple undercover is on tonight...can't wait!_**

**_Thank you to everyone who reviewed! Especially those who tell me what I can fix, like NCIS-Ziva-Abby with my mistake with Tony's eyes. I do love reviews!_**

**_Disclaimer: Again, nothing is mine..._**

Ziva startled awake again, mentally chiding herself for letting little things wake her up. No one was in the room with her, just as she had come to expect. She licked her dry lips, wondering how long it had been since she'd had anything to eat or drink.

Boredom. Was it so hard to imagine? She was fidgety now – she was never fidgety. Then again, she always had something to do. This sitting around all day, doing absolutely nothing but staring introspectively, was definitely fraying Ziva's nerves.

"Argh," she murmured to herself, eager for the sound of a voice, any voice, even if it was her own. In Israel, she had been able to be alone for days at a time while on assignment. Here in America, she had gotten used to being constantly in touch with someone. Abby. Gibbs. McGee. Jenny. And…Tony. He slid into her head, taking over completely.

She pictured him sitting at his desk, pretending to work on something on the computer yet staring off into space, a blank look in his eyes. Wondering if he knew what had happened to her yet, she imagined his voice talking to her.

"_Fancy meeting you here."_

"_Oh, hush."_

"_What did I do to deserve that one?"_

"_A lot of things."_

"_Aw, Zee-vah. Not fair."_

"_Oh, you wish. You are in my head, first of all."_

"_That's your own fault. I wouldn't be here if you hadn't thought of me."_

"_Well then. Go away. I shall stop thinking of you."_

"_Oh, but you can't, Zee-vah."_

And she couldn't. He was definitely planted there, very distinctly, in her head.

* * *

Tony stared at the phone on his desk, lost in thought. He couldn't believe that he and Ziva were such surface-level friends – the first thing she'd ever said to him was, "Were you having phone sex?"

"Argh," he murmured to himself. McGee's fingers were click-click-clicking away at his computer, McGoogling something that would help them find Ziva. Gibbs was down in autopsy with Ducky, going over some new piece of information the ME had deduced about Ziva's kidnappers. No one had noticed yet that Tony wasn't doing the work he was supposed to.

Deep in thought, he struggled to think of all the things he knew about Ziva. She was the middle child of three, the only one still alive – having killed her older brother to protect Gibbs, her little sister dead long before in a Hamas suicide bombing. Her father was the deputy director of Mossad, Eli David. She loved to run, but she excelled in physical activity in general. She was very smart – especially with languages.

_Is this really the deepest I go with her?_ Tony asked himself. He knew her sister's story was very close to her heart, as was what she had done to Ari. But she had told him her sister's story when they first met – he didn't know why. _Why?_

* * *

Ziva was singing to herself in Hebrew, a children's song. One that she'd often sung at work as she packed herself up at the end of the day. One that Tony had actually gone through the trouble of translating and learning, and singing along with her a few times. Tears welled up in her eyes at how funny it sounded in English, how broken Tony's Hebrew had sounded. But it had been the sweetest gesture anyone had ever put forth toward her, learning a song that most adults glossed over as a child's ditty, especially one in such a foreign language.

And from Tony. She realized how much of Tony she missed in focusing on how much he annoyed her at times. She also realized how much of the annoying she must have done, just to get back at him for what he did.

Tony DiNozzo. Her partner. The man spent nearly all her time with. And – she realized – her best friend. A Mossad officer was trained not to form close ties with others. Why had Tony, and all the others, burrowed so deeply into her heart? _America is getting to me,_ she thought, _but I don't mind. This is…right._

* * *

Tony struggled to remember the words to the Hebrew song he'd learned to sing with Ziva. It was a children's song, but for the life of him he couldn't remember very much of it. He wanted the connection he felt to Ziva when the sweet song coursed through his head and heart.

Stopping for a minute, he looked back over the past few years since Ziva had come to work with the team. When Kate died, he had even fantasized about her naked. Now, with Ziva…he couldn't imagine himself doing that, even though they joked about sex a lot. He chuckled as he remembered a certain seminar on sexual harassment that had ended with the whole team standing up and leaving in the middle of it. She seemed to be his antidote, the one that balanced his weirdness. He had changed more than he ever thought.

**_A/N2: I had some trouble with deciding where to end this. Even where it is, it's so short! Darn. Please review and tell me if you liked it or hated it or whatever!_**

**_Thanks again for everyone who does review!_**


	4. Chapter 4

_**A/N: I feel bad about how little I update. But I seem to only get a few paragraphs done a day, what with band and school and UGH. My brother is even using NCIS to annoy me - my family almost never watches TV live, we tape a bunch of NCIS's and watch them when we have time. Lately my brother has decided to start about ten different ones and leave them in the middle, then yell at me when I watch the whole thing and it's not 'right where he stopped it'. But I saw some good ones yesterday - SWAK, which I've been waiting to see, and I saw Twilight again. And I rewatched Dead Man Walking today, which is one of my favorites. Anyways, because you don't care about this, here is my next chapter. Which I feel is not very good at ALL...**_

**_Please tell me if you think it is. Because I feel like a cruddy writer today, what with how vulnerable and out-of-character I made Ziva._**

**_Disclaimer: I wish._**

Ziva stiffened automatically as she heard the creak of the door behind her. The same two men from before came around to stand in front of her, once again keeping near the walls and away from her. The same man who had spoken before opened his mouth.

"Miss Todd, we have a reliable source telling us you are Catholic. Why, then, do you wear a Star of David necklace as your only symbol of religion?"

Ziva opened her mouth quickly to tell them she was most definitely not Catholic, then shut it as she realized she was not Ziva David, but Kate Todd. And she knew for a fact that Kate had been Catholic.

Her brain working furiously, Ziva opened her mouth once again. "With a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, my family was not very religious. I do believe in God, but I have never been sure what else. This necklace was a gift from my mother just before she died. It reminds me of her."

Before she could say anything else, the man she'd never heard speak darted forward and slapped her hard across the cheek. Her head snapped to the side, adding to the pain she still felt from the nasty bump on the back of her head. The man stepped behind her and tied her hands behind her back, then untied her from the chair. Dragging her, as her legs were weak from inactivity, he took her out into the hallway and pushed her into the bathroom. Staggering to the sink, Ziva managed to turn it on and stuck her head under the faucet. The water was warm, but it was wet – heaven. She finished in the bathroom but didn't open the door.

Sinking down to the floor, Ziva rested her head on her knees. _Overwhelming_ was the only word she could think to describe this.

The steady clicking from McGee's computer stopped. "Tony," he said. No response came from the senior agent, who was actually doing something on his computer for once. "Tony!"

"What?!?" he asked, his head snapping from side to side, "is this important, Probie?"

McGee nearly lost his nerve, but he nodded. "I think these people may be from Kate's life before NCIS – when she was with the Secret Service. We haven't found any cases that seem to have her stand out from all the rest of us, where they would only attack her."

Tony's head tilted slightly as he thought about it. "But why would someone have a grudge against a Secret Service agent? They are only there to protect the President."

McGee nodded. "I know, but that really isn't all they do. Remember how bothered Kate got about counterfeit money? Maybe she broke up some scheme and they want revenge."

Tony's head bobbed forward slowly as he considered this. His phone rang suddenly, startling him out of his concentration. Snatching it, he barked, "Special Agent DiNozzo."

The voice of a worried Abby burst from the other end of the line. "I think I may have found something…" The phone was back in its cradle and Tony was halfway to the elevator before she could finish her sentence.

Abby spun around in her chair as the sliding glass door to her lab opened. Tony stalked in, seeming more Gibbs-like than ever – no jokes, no nothing, just business. She stood up and wrapped her arms around him, trying to convey the pain she felt and knew he felt. He didn't hug back for a minute, then awkwardly wrapped his arms around the scientist and patted her gently on the back.

Letting go, Abby turned back to her computer. "I was running the prints I got from that note they left on her coffee table. There were three sets – one was Ziva's, I don't know how they got there. The other two may be from the writer and the person who put it in her house, I'm not sure. But one of those prints – gave me matches."

"To who, Abby?" Tony asked, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. She clicked a button on her keyboard and the results on her computer popped up on the plasma.

"A guy who was in for counterfeiting money, got out on parole about a month ago. His name is…John Rollins. Not a big guy, probably the one sent to do the grunt work. But…the address listed on his parole form isn't real." She clicked another few buttons and the picture on the plasma changed.

"But this is the guy we have to worry about. He used to work with Kate as part of the Secret Service. He was fired when they found out he was moving counterfeit money into the monetary system. Now, he's wanted on numerous counts of embezzlement, grand larceny, forgery, and some other stuff. The problem? He's never been found. Once someone realizes they've got him, he's gone. Like, poof, disappear, he never existed."

Tony's fingers stopped drumming. "And he was there?"

Abby nodded slowly. "Either there or had something to do with it. Probably wasn't there, he wouldn't have grabbed Ziva because he knew Kate. But his fingerprints were on that note." She took her fingers away from the keyboard and turned toward him. "We'll find her, Tony."

Ziva tried to jump to her feet as the door started to open, but her time without food and activity (and her bound wrists) pulled her back and made it a slow climb. She still had enough time, however, swipe a leg around the ankles of the man opening the door and pull him to the ground. Stumbling out the doorway, she caught her balance and ran as flat-out as she could towards the end of the hallway.

Suddenly she was lying on the floor, as the other man popped into the hallway and pushed her down. Before she could stand up, he was tying her feet together as well. "Apparently we can't take any chances," he grunted as he roughly picked her up and carried her back to the room she'd been in before. Dropping her on the floor, he didn't even bother to set her back in the chair or untie her bonds. Slamming the door behind them, the two men disappeared once again. Ziva tried to curl into the fetal position that had once given her so much comfort, but the rope holding her arms behind her back made it nearly impossible. She stretched back out, still lying on her side. As the slight sunlight streaming through the window disappeared, slight, silent tears streaked down Ziva's face. She had no idea what was happening, why they'd grabbed her, or anything – it could crush someone else. But not her. She wouldn't let it.

Her cracked lips moved softly as she prayed once again, the familiar Hebrew words tasting like honey in her mouth. They only became sweeter when she thought about Tony's broken, simplistic Hebrew sentences the few times he'd used her native language. His image popped unbidden into her head once again.

"_I never thought I'd see you cry."_

"_Can you imagine what is going on right now?"_

"_No, I can't. But still, the steely-eyed killer, crying. Do you see my predicament?"_

"_I do. But it is not such a predicament. I have seen you be sweet before, especially to women, even when you are the one who treats them like objects."_

"_Ooh, Zi, that was low."_

"_It was very true."_

"_Was not."_

"_Was too!"_

Ziva smiled through her silent tears as she thought of the stupid conversations they could have. And of how much she missed them. And Tony in general.

Closing her eyes, she sighed. _What was all this introspection doing to her?_

**_A/N2: Here's the fourth chapter! I think it was a bit longer than the others...not sure. But anyways, please review! This chapter was so bothersome to me, because it felt like it didn't fit at all._**


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N: Long time no post...oops! I was seriously going to post like right after _Truth and Consequences_ but my mom made me go to bed that day and the rest of the week and this week have been busy, so I've been getting little bits done. But now I'm finally done with this chapter._**

**_Psst...I'm LOVING the new season...and I know I promised I wouldn't write any other stories, but I wrote a little tag to T&C like lots of other people and now I'm starting a series-sort-of songfic. It will be called _She Could Be._ Yes, the song by Corbin Bleu. I have some rather random music from when mein Bruder und ich (my brother and I) were VERY into Disney. But no one cares._**

**_Disclaimer: Still not mine._**

Tony was searching for the guy Abby had found through the fingerprint search – Sean McNamara, or at least that was the name he'd used when he worked with Kate. Everything was dead-ending, just as Abby had said it would. His drivers' license had expired five years ago and not been renewed, no credit cards, no nothing. No trail.

McGee seemed to be faring better looking for dirt on John Rollins, the other man whose fingerprints Abby had lifted. He scribbled something on a sticky note and stood up, moving over to Gibbs' desk.

"Boss, just like Abby said, this guy just got out on parole about a month ago. He isn't that great at covering his tracks – his parole officer is Patrick Norris, his address on everything but his parole form is real, and he seems apt to pay for everything with a credit card." He paused, and Gibbs looked up from his computer screen. "The last place he paid for something was at a McDonalds' two mornings ago; a little after the time Abby thinks Ziva was…was…"

Gibbs spoke up so McGee wouldn't have to go through with his sentence. "Cell phone and address?" he asked. McGee nodded, holding out his sticky note.

"Right here, Boss," he told him. Gibbs glanced down at it and nodded.

"McGee, you're with me to look for this dirtbag. Tony, take Ziva…" he stopped abruptly, a dumbstruck, completely un-Gibbs look on his face. The look disappeared as his face became stone again and he rectified his mistake. "Go talk to the parole officer, DiNozzo," he said quietly.

The three agents grabbed their gear and headed towards the elevator in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.

* * *

Ziva was still lying on the ground, lost in the pain from her head. It had definitely not hurt this bad before she fell asleep last time. Prying her eyes open, she tried to roll onto her back but was stopped by the hard protest of a steel-toed boot. That bump was all it took to tell her that another booted foot was resting on her head, pressing down just above the shiner she'd earned yesterday. She moaned involuntarily, and a harsh laugh sounded behind her.

"Big, tough agent my butt," the new male voice said. "You can't even handle this. You know what's coming to you? So much worse." His sadistic cackle was the last thing she heard as she slipped into unconsciousness again, just as his steel-toed boot connected with her shoulder.

* * *

Gibbs knocked on the door of the apartment and shouted, "Federal agents," just as if this were one of the dozens of cases he'd worked before. But it wasn't. So he was ready to shoot something as he kicked in the door and started checking the place.

"Clear," McGee's voice resounded from the tiny bedroom. "But he's not planning on coming back."

After clearing the rest of the tiny apartment, Gibbs joined McGee in the bedroom. All the drawers in the dresser were pulled out, mostly empty. A few items of clothing were strewn around the bedroom, looking as if they'd been left there in haste. Gibbs groaned.

"Always too late," he murmured. He stalked back out of the apartment, McGee scrambling behind him.

"We need his cell phone GPS coordinates, McGee," Gibbs said. "Can you get them in the car?" McGee nodded.

"I'll call the cell phone company and have them send the coordinates to Abby. She can tell us where to go." Gibbs nodded his approval as the climbed back into their car.

A few minutes later, they were streaking at Gibbs-speed towards the located cell phone.

* * *

Ziva kept her eyes closed as she took stock of her new bruises. Her whole body ached from the man's boots. She was lying in the same place she had been before the boots started, her hands and feet still bound. But she could tell the door was open behind her – she could hear them screaming at each other.

"That's not Kate Todd!" the sadistic man yelled. "You numbskulls got the wrong person!" His voice was nearly hysterical, contrasting with the level tones he'd used earlier, even though his sadism had leaked through.

Ziva cringed. This must be the man who had ordered Kate kidnapped. What was going to happen now, if he knew she'd lied, if he knew she wasn't Kate? Her head spun with possible plans, but her battered, bruised body wasn't going to cooperate.

The other men seemed nervous. "How were we supposed to know? She works for Jethro Gibbs at NCIS! That's the only information you gave us!"

Anger rising, the first man shouted back. "Does she look like a Kaitlin Todd? No! She told you herself she was from Israel! _Now go find me Kate Todd._"

After a scramble of footsteps up stairs, Ziva could hear the punching of buttons on a cell phone. A violent shudder coursed through her body as the man spoke to the receptionist and stated who he wanted to be connected with: "Special Agent Jethro Gibbs."

* * *

Gibbs' cell phone rang loudly in the silence of their car ride, just as McGee cried, "He's moving, Boss!" Spinning the wheel to follow their now-moving target, Gibbs flipped open and answered his phone.

"Yeah, Gibbs," he said shortly. His face remained stone as he listened, but his eyes quickly filled with fire. McGee couldn't hear the conversation, but he simply knew it was about Ziva, probably her captors calling again.

Gibbs could barely stand to be on the phone with these men again. Especially after he found out that they knew Ziva wasn't Kate. And that they were looking for Kate again.

After being hung up on again, Gibbs nearly chucked his phone at McGee. His jaw set, Gibbs forced the car after the one lead they had on their missing agent – their Ziva.

**_A/N2: Whatcha think? I think this might be going a bit fast, but I want them to find Ziva...input is always greatly appreciated!_**


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N: New chapter! I had fun writing this time because I haven't been so busy - no chemistry lab at all last week, and a 99 on the hardest test I've ever taken, and a two-day week this week. Yay!**_

**_Anyways. I'm trying to make Ziva less weak because I'm really bothered by just how weak I made her before. So._**

**_Disclaimer: Nicht meins._**

Ziva's strength felt renewed as rage at her captors flowed through her veins. What would these men do to find Kate? Would they kidnap some other woman just to say they'd found her?

She groaned. How long had already passed since she'd been kidnapped? She hadn't tried much to get out of this. Running had been a bad idea – her captors weren't dumb, of course they had thought out that plan before taking her out to the bathroom. She was Mossad! Why was getting out of this mess such a hard thing to do?

Tony had found the parole officer, but he was having trouble getting a straight answer out of him. Finally fed up with the man's games, Tony pulled out a pair of handcuffs and held them up.

"I can arrest you for obstruction of justice," he told the man, who suddenly looked very nervous and shook his head.

"I-I'm sorry," he mumbled. Tony shook the cuffs, and he spoke up louder. "There's nothing to tell you. He comes in to see me every week like he's supposed to, and I've never had anyone complain about him."

Tony rolled his eyes. "But you never noticed that his address was phony?"

Patrick Norris shook his head quickly. "No. I don't have time to go into the addresses of the guys I'm watching."

Tony grimaced. "Nope. That was a bad lie. You're supposed to check up on him just as often as he's supposed to come see you. So obviously something's up." He moved slightly as if he was going to click the cuffs around Norris' wrists, but the man jerked away and held up his hands.

"No, no cuffs. I'll tell you," he spluttered. When he stopped, Tony jangled the cuffs again, eliciting another nervous response. "He and the guy who paid his bail the first time came to see me. They paid me to not to look in on him. I seriously didn't realize it was a fake address though." Tony glared, this jumpy man really getting on his nerves. "I'm a bit short on money right now! I didn't think he was too much of a threat, so I let it go."

Tony shook his head. "We should take you in for accepting a bribe. An NCIS agent is missing because of your 'oversight'." The man's eyes went wide.

"No! That was never supposed to happen!" Burying his head in his hands, he moaned. "I just don't believe it."

Tony resisted the urge to whack the guy over the head with a Gibbs-slap and stalked out, seething. _Where was his Ziva?_

McGee pointed out the window to a coffee shop, straining not to fly into the window as Gibbs turned into the parking lot. "He's in there, Boss," he said in a shaky voice. The two men practically flew out of the car and into the shop. Gibbs immediately recognized the man from his picture on Abby's plasma and stalked over to him.

"John Rollins?" he growled. The man jumped and hesitated a second before shaking his head. McGee shook his head.

"Bad idea," he murmured as Gibbs leaned in closer to the man, his eyes flashing with cold fury.

"Let's take him in, McGee," he said, his voice almost a whisper. McGee pulled the man out of the booth and yanked his arms behind him, clicking the cuffs swiftly. As the two agents dragged the man out to their car, they failed to notice the smug look on the face of the man who had been with Rollins.

Ziva listened carefully for the sounds of footsteps in the hall as she worked her sore body through the loop of her arms, bringing her bound wrists in front of her. Being flexible was paying off. Resting for a minute to regain some strength, she started to pick and tear at the rope with her fingers and teeth. She only wanted to get it loose enough that she could get out of it quickly – pulling it off all the way would not be the smartest idea at this point. She hoped no one would come in and notice her hands were no longer behind her back.

Tony and McGee were waiting in the interrogation room, both a bit antsy as they watched Gibbs in interrogation with John Rollins. He was using his stare-down technique, which they usually enjoyed watching, but they were both painfully aware that each minute clicking by was another minute they hadn't found Ziva.

Rollins looked very nervous in the silent room. He'd never been stared down like this before, especially by someone as already scary-looking as this Special Agent Gibbs.

Gibbs was totally repulsed by this man, just knowing what he'd done to their Ziva. He stood up and started pacing, stopping directly behind Rollins.

"Do you know why you're here?" he asked, his voice low. Rollins shook his head hard, jumping as Gibbs' voice turned into a growl.

"You are here because an NCIS agent is missing," Gibbs told the trembling man, who shook his head hard once again.

"You're wrong. I have no idea what you're talking about," Rollins said shakily. Gibbs rolled his eyes.

"Then why did you lie about who you are?" Gibbs asked, leaning down so he was just over Rollins' shoulder.

"I…I…don't know," Rollins stuttered. Gibbs slammed his hand down on the table.

"Tell me what you know!"

**_A/N2: Yeah, kind of a weird place to end a story. But I have to go to bed five minutes ago, and I wanted to get this up because I have ANOTHER idea for a story and I'm debating between starting it and deleting _She Could Be_ or starting the new one and leaving SCB up, or just writing my new one and not putting it up yet. Want to help me make my decision? Please review and tell me what you think of the story and what you think I should do! Tschüs!_**


	7. Chapter 7

**_A/N: Okay, I am seriously, extremely, way-too-much sorry for how long it's been since my last post! I've had serious writer's block, and then I got a new computer and the document didn't transfer right...anyways._**

**_I think that because I haven't written this story in such a long time and the fact that I had writer's block anyway combined to make this not the best chapter ever. But I'm not going to put myself down anymore, I'm just going to put it up and let you-all have at it._**

**_Disclaimer: I wish. I don't even own an NCIS DVD!_**

Ziva could hear excited footsteps tripping over themselves as they came down the stairs – two sets. Her door burst open and the man who'd beat her came around in front of her, as did the man who hardly spoke. Neither one noticed the new position of Ziva's arms. The first man's eyes were bright as he glared at Ziva, disgust and pleasure both evident in his face.

"Your time left to live is very short," he told her. "One of us has been taken into custody by NCIS. Your 'friends' will be fed false information, just enough to keep them on the chase. But by the time they figure out none of it is true, you will be long dead – they will never find you." His voice rose almost comically with his pleasure at killing her as he stepped forward with his bloody steel-toed boots.

She would not give in. She knew Gibbs, McGee, even Tony would figure it out. They were not going to go on a wild-goose chase when it came to her. Would they?

McGee was fuming. This man who sent shivers of revulsion up his spine had just told them where Ziva was being held – the same place McGee had tracked him to before the coffee shop. He couldn't believe this man – this John Rollins – had tried to lie to Gibbs, who had picked up quickly on his fallacies; suddenly doing everything short of punching him in the face to show the team meant business. The panicky man had finally told them everything, knowing he would be a lot worse off if he tried to double-cross this team, this man called Gibbs.

McGee was resisting the urge to do something drastic to Tony, whose constant movement was almost as aggravating as the uncertainty of Ziva's condition and everything else at that moment. His patience with everything was wearing thin, his need to go find their missing agent almost overpowering. He'd only felt like this once before – when the need to get revenge on Ari for Kate's death had been the only thing filling his brain. But it had not been so overpowering, so prevalent. Ziva was more of a sister to him than Kate had ever been.

Tony was ready to go. His backpack rested by the doorway to the observation room, the van keys dangled from his hand. He couldn't stand this waiting, this not knowing what was happening to Ziva. Drumming his fingers on the ledge of the window, he tried not to snap at McGee, who was standing perfectly still. Yes it was tempting, but it wouldn't help anything. It was almost impossible to stay here. They knew where she was, why weren't they leaving immediately, why hadn't they left five minutes ago?

Gibbs couldn't stand to be in the interrogation room a minute longer with the repulsive man sitting there, but he was having trouble getting up and opening the door. He now knew where Ziva was, but why couldn't he bring himself to leave?

Suddenly he knew. He stood up and started pacing, Rollins' frightened eyes following his every move. Abruptly Gibbs stopped just behind the man, leaning down and whispering into his ear. Rollins' frightened eyes popped, making his already awkward features look distinctly comical. Finally satisfied, the silver-haired team leader left the interrogation room, not surprised to find both his remaining agents waiting for him, gear and keys in hand.

Ziva prayed silently this time. The silent man had not left the room after his friend had had his fun: he sat behind her, his beady, leering eyes fixated on her back. She shivered with the thought, her whole body repulsed by the idea of this creepy man watching her. This brought her out of her prayers hastily – she had never been disgusted by a gaze before. The thought disturbed her. Was she becoming too soft?

At this point she did not care. Her mind fell into the familiar prayers again, oft-used words comforting her spinning thoughts. Her battered and bruised body protested the slight sway that accompanied the rhythmic Hebrew flowing through her brain.

Suddenly she flexed her hands and feet, an unknown feeling to be ready falling over her. She continued to pray but stayed on high alert, listening for any change in the man's breathing or more footsteps on the stairs.

Abby was beyond nervous. Her whole team was out there, at the hands of these evil men. Her fingers flitted over her keyboard, looking through all the things she had found out about Sean McNamara, John Rollins, and everything else related to this case. But that didn't sound right. She couldn't call it a case when it was all focused on Ziva – there was too much at stake.

A noise at the door startled her. She whirled around and came face-to-face with Ducky, who seemed unperturbed by her jumpy reaction.

"It is all right, Abigail. They will find her," he said, leaning slightly on the computer desk next to her. She nodded.

"I know that, but I'm still worried. They're all out there with this madman who wanted Kate and got Ziva and he hurt her, Ducky! I can't believe someone would do this to her!" Ducky let her ramble on for a few minutes, then held up his hand to stem the flow of words.

"I know you're worried, but you must remember – we have Leroy Jethro Gibbs on our side," he told her. Her face cracked into a quick smile and she nodded before going back to her computer screen.

"Yeah, I know that. And I'm going to help him do all he can to catch this guy."

**_A/N: So what you think? Worth the wait? Probably not. Still. Please review!_**


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